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The Contrast could not have been Sharper

Wed, 2012-09-19 14:13 | Prabhat Patnaik

 The contrast could not have been sharper. When the Union government unleashed a double assault on the people, through a diesel and cooking gas price hike and by allowing FDI in multi-brand retail, as every housewife, every man on the street, complained, the stock market boomed and the rupee climbed up. Capital is delighted when the people are hit. Finance cheers as the working people are squeezed. India’s “credit rating”, as officials were quick to point out, would now improve!

Three reactions from the Left on the decision to allow FDI in multibrand retail

Wed, 2012-09-19 14:12 | Utsa Patnaik, Prabhat Patnaik, and CP Chandrashekar

 Pragoti is carrying three short pieces, which were reactions to the decision by the Union governemnt to allow FDI in multibrand retail. These pieces were originally published in Ganasakthi and also available at www.cpimwb.org.in, the website of the CPI(M) West Bengal State Committee

The Student movement, Higher education and the End of neoliberal triumphalism

Thu, 2012-09-13 22:02 | C. P. Chandrasekhar
14th All India Conf SFI 1.jpg
 
C. P. Chandrasekhar's inaugural address at the 14th All India Conference of the Student Federation of India
This 14th All-India conference of the Students Federation of India is being held at a critical time in recent history. Over the last five years a deep crisis has overcome the metropolitan core of modern capitalism, and not just its poorer periphery. Never before since the Great Depression has the economic and political viability of capitalism been as much under challenge as it is today. And the legitimacy of modern capitalism as a system that can deliver a socially and historically acceptable minimum standard of life for much of its inhabitants is once again in question.

Gender, Property and Institutional Basis of Tax Policy Concessions: Investigating the Hindu Undivided Family

Tue, 2012-09-11 08:12 | Chirashree Das Gupta

One of the most significant contributions of the Hazari report was the official identification of the ‘business group’ as the basic institutional unit of organisation of Indian monopoly capital. The group in this view consisted of a number of related and unrelated activities controlled by a single central decision-making authority and thereby functioning as a co-ordinated organisation (Hazari 1967).

Sexual Harassment at the Workplace: Extending the Debate

Sun, 2012-09-09 12:28 | Ayesha Kidwai, Anubhuti Maurya, and Albeena Shakil

 On 3 September 2012, the Lok Sabha passed the ‘Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal) Bill, 2010’, a full fifteen years after the Supreme Court (1997 Vishaka vs. State of Rajasthan). The Vishakha judgement was revolutionary in mandating the formation of committees against sexual harassment in all workplaces and placing upon the employer the responsibility of providing an environment free of sexual harassment, hostility and intimidation for women. In the Lok Sabha, the Bill was passed without any discussion, and will now be placed before the Rajya Sabha. This Bill must be thoroughly debated, as there are a number of provisions that need revision.

साम्राज्यवाद, स्वराज और भारतीय परिदृश्य

Fri, 2012-09-07 00:53 — Dhananjay Rai
imperialism

लोकतंत्र पर भारतीय और वैश्विक विमर्श में कई महत्वपूर्ण खामियाँ हैं. लोकतंत्र के सैधान्तिकरण में साम्राज्यवाद को पूरी तरह से ही छोड़ दिया जाता है. यह तीन तरीके से किया गया है. पहला कि साम्राज्यवाद महत्वपूर्ण अवधारणा नहीं है. इस तरह की सोच वालो को ‘उत्तर-आधुनिक’, ‘उत्तर- उपनिवेशवादी’ और ‘समुदायवादी’ सिद्धांतकार कह सकते हैं. चूँकि ये सिद्धांतकार ‘बड़े’ या ‘मेटा’ प्रश्नों को व्यर्थ मानते हैं तो यह स्वाभाविक ही है कि साम्राज्यवाद जैसे ‘मेटा’ प्रश्न उनकी परिधि से बाहर ही रहें हैं. दूसरी कोटि में नव उदारवादी आते हैं.

The Naroda Patiya Common Judgment - An Indictment of the Narendra Modi Government

Thu, 2012-09-06 05:00 | Chirashree Das Gupta

August 29, 2012. Ten and a half years after the brutal carnage at Naroda Patiya, the long struggle for justice has reached the first milestone with the common judgment on  pronounced by Judge Jyotsna Yagnik Special Sessions Judge. Eight charge sheets were filed in this historic case that lasted several months. It was one of the nine cases being supervised by the Supreme Court and investigated by the SIT.In all 32 persons have been convicted. This  includes former BJP MLA and minister in the Narendra Modi cabinet, Smt Maya Kodnani, Babu Bajrangi, Bipin Panchal, Ashok Sindhi and Kishan Korani (sitting corporator, accused No 20) Twenty-nine of the accused were acquitted. The full text of the judgment is archived on Pragoti and is available here. Here are some excerpts from the judgment which sets into context not only the heinous crimes of the BJP, the Bajrang DAl, the RSS and the VHP; but also the complicity of the police and by extension the Narendra Modi government in the carnage.

Blocking the Web

Fri, 2012-08-31 17:25 | V Krishna Ananth

Professor of Media studies at Sikkim University and a long time political commentator and legal activist, V. Krishna Ananth jots down his thoughts about the recent phenomenon of net censorship and the government's decision to block over 300 net accounts following the exodus issue. 

Source: 
http://krishnananth.blogspot.in/2012/08/blocking-web.html

India, Being and Becoming

Sun, 2012-08-26 14:38 — Dhananjay Rai
Assam,Mumbai and Mass Exodus

‘Assam violence’, ‘requital’ in Mumbai and thereupon ‘en masse exodus’ towards geographically known area as North-Eastern States by its inhabitants are a crystal clear signpost of India’s being and becoming dilemma. In fact, there is a battle over being and becoming. Benign postulation would suggest that there is a diversion between being and becoming of India’s theoretical foundation and practice. This benign understanding can be dubbed as simplification of being and its historicity.

Poor Governance: Achilles’ heel for Samajwadi Party

Wed, 2012-08-22 12:09 — Dhananjay
SP 2 .jpeg

A blogpost that expresses dismay with the newly formed SP led government in Uttar Pradesh.